“I’m gonna bring you home safe if I have to break every bone in your body” is an intense and emotion-steeped quote from Naruto Uzumaki to Sasuke Uchiha during their face-off at the Valley of the End during the original Naruto series. These two shinobi had come to a point on their diverging paths where neither could move forward without facing the other in combat. A battle of this magnitude for both characters was foreshadowed, and when it finally arrived, it was full of impressive jutsu and heartfelt words, and communication through combat. Naruto facing off against his best friend and expressing desperately that he would willingly maim him to return him home gives the audience stark insight into the radical existence of a shinobi.
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Throughout Naruto, we watch as Team 7 is frequently faced with the deadly reality that is the ninja world. Our young shinobi are sent on missions that endanger their lives, and even take part in saving their village from an enemy infiltration scheme. As we witness these genin grow and become well-rounded ninja, we also see that their paths begin to go in separate directions. Sasuke bears down on his resolve to gain the power necessary to kill his brother and avenge his clan, regardless of what it takes. While Sasuke follows Orochimaru down a dark path, Naruto maintains his ideals of wanting to become the Hokage and to protect those he loves. When the two finally exchange words and blows, Naruto delivers a chilling line that drives home the fact that the protagonist we’re watching and idealizing is still a child soldier whose entire existence is deeply ingrained with violence.
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A Clash of Ideals
Naruto and Sasuke’s fight at the Valley of the End was heavily foreshadowed as the protagonists and their rival had constantly been growing alongside each other while laying the pathways for a showdown. Setting a scene for this epic battle was the easy part, as both young shinobi had already been fully indoctrinated as child soldiers and had experienced the frequent violence from within the ninja world. During the clash, we learn of the depth that these two characters have when it comes to their emotions for each other. Both of them view each other as the only other person who can understand them and as sibling figures. For Sasuke, this is why he must leave the village and sever that bond, he believes that he will never be able to achieve enough power to reach his goals as long as he is held back by close bonds. Naruto, on the other hand, believes in the sanctity of the village and hinges his very own ideals as a ninja on the fact that if we can’t save one friend, how could he become Hokage and lead his fellow shinobi?
There are many intense words thrown around by these two rivals, yet the one that stands out the most is the one we are talking about today, which truly highlights the violence of living within the ninja world. In swearing to save Sasuke and return him to the village, Naruto threatens to do anything it takes, including breaking every bone in Sasuke’s body. The intensity of a threat like this, even in an anime, can’t be understated, especially when we consider it is a child saying it. Naruto’s resolve throughout the series is ironclad, and he is sure of himself and sure of his mission, so much so that when a dear friend goes against the grain of his ninja way, his only option for resolution is combat. Of course, this doesn’t come as much of a surprise to viewers after experiencing the deadly Chunin exams and watching as these kids defended their village from invading soldiers.
Naruto’s Generational Violence
A world of violence creates a world filled with people who have been scarred by said violence, and this is never on display more than through all of the adult ninjas who were unable to help these Genin find peaceful solutions. As Sasuke began to exhibit his darker-leaning ideals in seeking strength, Kakashi was only capable of restraining the Genin and expressing to him that, like Sasuke, he had no loved ones left. Kakashi was forged by a great war and lost his entire squad, except for his sensei during that war, and often showed signs of not having recovered from that space mentally. A further failure for our adults was when a mission that should have fallen to older, more experienced ninjas became the Sasuke Retrieval mission led by a newly minted Chunin and four Genin. There were no other experienced ninjas available in the village, but that was because of the invasion by the Sand Village earlier on in the series; again, our young shinobi are constantly marred by the violence in their world.
“I’m gonna bring you home safe if I have to break every bone in your body!”
Naruto Uzumaki, Naruto Chapter 228
This Naruto quote about the extremes to which Naruto will go to bring Sasuke home is an example of absolute resolve and of a character who is one with their world. The dark truth is that all of the characters in Naruto suffer similar tragic existences; their world is war-torn and forged through combat, meaning that even at a young age, one of the prime career paths is becoming a soldier. Getting caught up in Naruto’s grandiosity, it is easy to forget the dire circumstances the young protagonists are in; however, that is not to say that he doesn’t become a voice for change. Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden were stories about Naruto learning that his life and world were a vicious cycle of violence and death and recognizing that responding with violence would not rid the world of this problem. Thus, Naruto, who said such violent things as threatening to break all of the bones in someone’s body, was able to forge forward and help usher in a world that relies less on wars to solve the majority of its conflicts.